The a to Z Encyclopedia of Serial Killers (64 page)

Reviewing Oates’s novel in the
New York Times Book Review,
one prominent critic interpreted this story as an “allegory” about “what American society itself is capable of.” The character’s “efforts to create zombies,” this critic wrote, are “derived from the irreversible psychosurgical procedures performed during the 1940s and 1950s on thousands of unfortunate Americans judged to be psychotic, dangerous or incompetent.”

“A true ZOMBIE would be mine forever. He would obey every command & whim. Saying ‘Yes, Master’ & ‘No, Master.’ He would kneel before me lifting his eyes to me saying, ‘I love you, Master. There is no one but you, Master.’ ”

From
Zombie
by Joyce Carol Oates

While this is an ingenious theory, it ignores a crucial fact: Quentin P——’s zombie obsession derives not from the psychosurgical practices of the 1940s but from the far more recent atrocities of Jeffrey
Dahmer
, the obvious inspiration for Oates’s novel. In addition to his many other unspeakable acts, Dahmer performed a number of do-it-yourself lobotomies in an effort to turn his victims into passive sex slaves whom he could violate at will.

Unlike Oates’s fictional monster, Dahmer did not rely on an ice pick. Instead, after drugging his victim, he would drill a hole in the young man’s head and inject muriatic acid into the brain with a hypodermic syringe. Most of the victims died instantly, though one actually remained alive and ambulatory for two days after being injected.

Z
OOPHILIA

Zoophilia is the technical term for bestiality: sex with animals. Peter
Kürten
and Henry Lee
Lucas
are among the degenerates known to have engaged in this perversion as teenagers. Budding serial killers often combine bestiality with
Animal Torture
, as a kind of rehearsal for their later acts of lust murder. As a youth, for example, Kürten enjoyed slitting the throats of animals—pigs, sheeps, goats, dogs—while having sex with them.

Of course, zoophilia is only one of a shocking range of perversions that serial killers routinely indulge in. For more on the subject, see
Paraphilias
.

Z
ULU

While the majority of U. S. serial killers are white—mirroring our country’s racial demographics—the situation is different in other parts of the world. South Africa, for example, has produced a striking number of serial murderers in recent decades, nearly all of them blacks from KwaZulu-Natal, or the Zulu Kingdom.

The most notorious is Morris Sithole. Abandoned by his widowed mother at an early age, Sithole was sent to an orphanage in KwaZulu-Natal, where he suffered harsh mistreatment at the hands of his supposed caretakers. Released from prison after doing time on a rape conviction, he embarked
on a murder spree that left more than three dozen women dead between January and October 1995—throttled, strangled with their own underwear, or killed with a garrote. Following his capture, Sithole freely acknowledged his hatred of women, explaining that he was teaching his victims “a very good lesson” by killing them. His reign of terror earned him a combined prison sentence of more than 2,400 years.

Though they didn’t match Sithole’s body count, three other black serial killers from the KwaZulu-Natal province—Samuel Bongani Mfeka, Sipho Agmatir Thwala, and David Selepe—also raped and strangled an alarming number of victims during the 1990s. (See
Race and Racism
.
)

Author Photo © Bela Borsodi

HAROLD SCHECHTER
is a professor of American literature and culture, and a national bestselling author renowned for his true-crime writing. His numerous nonfiction books include
Fatal, Fiend, Bestial, Deviant, Deranged
, and
Depraved
, He is also the author of several acclaimed historical novels featuring Edgar Allan Poe:
Nevermore, The Hum Bug, The Mask of Red Death
and
The Tell-Tale Corpse
. He lives in New York State.

Author Photo ©Laurie Everitt

DAVID EYERITT
is the author of
Human Monsters
, an encyclopedia of the world’s most infamous murderers. In addition to true-crime writing, he is also a novelist and frequent contributor to
The New York Times
.

B
OOKS BY
H
AROLD
S
CHECHTER

Nonfiction:

Fatal

Fiend

Bestial

Depraved

Deranged

Deviant

The A to Z Encyclopedia of Serial Killers

Fiction:

The Hum Bug

Nevermore

Dying Breath

Outcry

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Index

Adorno, George,
287

Allen, Tobias,
32
–33,
50
–51

“Alton”
154

Angelo, Richard,
198
,
205
–6

Ariemes,
235
–36

Atkins, Susan,
177

Atlanta Child Murders,
227
,
245
–46

Aubray, Marie Madeleine d’,
14

“Axeman of New Orleans,”
20
–22,
118
,
251
,
293

Ball, Joe,
10
–11,
71
,
78

Bates, Norman (fictional character),
24
,
29
,
30
,
107
,
157
,
190
,
286

Bathory, Elizabeth,
14
,
118
,
198

Beane clan,
57
–59,
86
,
118

Beck, Martha,
62
–63,
119
,
149
,
151
,
251

Becker, Marie,
98

Bender clan,
57
,
58
,
207
–8

Berkowitz, David,
24
–26
,
40
,
50
,
56
,
61
,
93
,
119
,
128
,
157
,
161
,
163
,
167
,
237
,
269
,
288
,
291

Bernardo, Paul,
149

Bianchi, Kenneth “Hillside Strangler,”
116
–17
,
119
,
129
,
190
,
198
,
215
,
216
,
251
.
See also
Hillside Stranglers

Bichel, Andreas,
154

Bird, Jake,
20
,
118
,
202

Bird, Robert Montgomery,
239
–40

Bishop, Arthur Gary,
72

Bittaker, Lawrence,
16
,
97
,
216

“Black Dahlia” murder,
294
–95

Bloch, Robert,
29
–30
,
107
,
254

Blot, Henri,
109

“Bluebeard of Paris.”
See
Landru, Henri

bluebeards,
14
,
26
,
30
–32
,
209
,
254
.
See also specific person

Bobbitt, Lorena,
140

Bolber, Morris,
191

Bonin, William George “Freeway Killer,”
123
,
198

Borden, Lizzie,
20
,
21
,
49
,
203

Boston Strangler.
See
DeSalvo, Albert

Botkin, Cordelia,
61

Bowers, Rosalind,
109

Brady, Ian,
13
,
85
,
148
–49,
184
–85
,
193
–94,
198
,
221
,
251

“Brides in the Bath” murderer (George Joseph Smith),
24
,
31
,
32

Briggen, Joseph,
11
–12

Bright, Jon,
69
,
80
,
96
,
108
,
158

Brown, Frances,
166

Brussel, James,
233

Bryan, Peter,
43

“BTK” (Dennis Rader),
2
,
34
–36
,
56
–57,
162
–63,
198
,
295

Budd, Grace,
9
,
42
,
85
,
95
–96,
163
–65

Bullock, David,
289

Bundy, Carol,
149
–50,
258

Bundy, Ted,
36
–38

     bestiality of,
36
,
37

     bluebeards compared with,
30

     books about,
251

     and characteristics of serial killers,
181

     coeds as victims of,
59
–60

     and collectibles,
47
,
50

     copycats of,
61

     and definition of serial killing,
73
,
74

     disposal by,
77

     drawings about,
41

     electrocution of,
38

     escapes of,
37
,
84

     evilness of,
85

     fantasies of,
92

     FBI interviews of,
37
,
93

     and groupies,
109

     and history of serial killing,
119